African Entrepreneurship Records

  Chapter 290 Long Staple Cotton

  This time, the planned population of Nairobi is 80,000. In addition to the previous population of 20,000, it will almost exceed 100,000. It is expected to become the first large city in East Africa with a population exceeding 100,000.

  The planned industry supporting such a large population in Nairobi is the textile industry. In the agricultural areas around Nairobi, the main cash crop grown is cotton.

  At the same time, in order to broaden the range of products, East Africa plans to introduce Egyptian cotton for planting in the upper reaches of the rivers in Somalia. Egyptian cotton, also known as Egyptian long-staple cotton, has a long-standing reputation in the world and is known as "platinum".

  Egyptian cotton is native to the subcontinent of South Asia. It likes high temperature and rainy conditions. It is most suitable for growth in savannah, temperate zone and tropical monsoon regions. With the development of irrigation technology worldwide, cotton is increasingly concentrated in arid regions with irrigation conditions.

  But the best output quality is the Egyptian long-staple cotton improved by the Egyptians. The East African Kingdom intends to directly introduce the Egyptian variety of long-staple cotton for planting.

  Egypt’s Nile Delta and the banks of the Nile River, because the existence of the Nile River ensures that cotton planting will not lack water, the moisture content of the soil is consistent, the humidity is constant at about 60%, the temperature is constant and high, and the sunlight and rainfall are too suitable for the growth of cotton. It is a perfect natural cotton irrigation system, a typical God’s feast.

   Looking for a similar environment around the world, Somalia is second to none. Although it does not have the blessing of the longest river in the world, the Shabelle River and the Juba River are both major rivers in Africa.

  In particular, the Shabelle River is most similar to the Nile River in terms of natural conditions. They both flow from the tropical grassland climate area to the tropical desert, forming an irrigation area downstream.

  At present, Egypt is the world's largest producer of long-staple cotton. During Ali's era, Ali vigorously built water conservancy projects, dredged old canals, dug 20 new canals and built nearly 30 dams, promoted and improved waterwheels, tried steam irrigation and drainage machines, and introduced new crops and new varieties. The famous Egyptian long-staple cotton was promoted during this period. Cotton exports increased from 944 bales in 1821 to more than 250,000 bales in 1849. Cotton planting facilitated the development of the Egyptian cotton textile industry, and the development of the textile industry provided Ali government with a large amount of funds to open more modern factories.

  Of course, the economic system of Egypt has been completely destroyed by the British, especially the cotton textile industry. As the world's factory, the British textile industry is the most important thing, so the original cotton textile industries of its colonies in India and Egypt have been destroyed by them, and they have become a single source of cheap raw materials.

   That is to say, the Egyptians are now growing cotton for the British, and the textile industry established in the Ali era no longer exists.

  East Africa grows long-staple cotton. In addition to its rich economic benefits, it also relies on the markets of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany. They are not suitable for planting long-staple cotton. Therefore, East Africa has natural advantages in this regard, and it will not conflict with its local textile industry. Because of the different positioning, the characteristics of long-staple cotton are destined to focus on high-end consumer markets.

  So Ernst's plan is to build several long-staple cotton planting bases in Juba Province, the northern province of Somalia.

  Finally, after the cotton is harvested, it is transferred to Nairobi City, processed and then exported to the Middle East and Europe.

  Venice textile industry has a long history and was the most important textile center in medieval Europe, so the workers who migrated to Nairobi have no technical problems.

  At the same time, Nairobi is located near the livestock production area in northern East Africa, and East Africa plans to breed a large number of sheep in the grasslands of Kenya.

  Promote Nairobi to become the cotton textile center of East Africa and at the same time become the wool textile industry center of East Africa. Even Ernst intends to introduce silk technology from the Far East and build another silk textile industry center in Kisumu City in the Great Lakes District. Together with Nairobi and Mombasa, it will form the center of light industry manufacturing in East Africa.

  At present, because of the war in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz’s plan to cooperate with the Hechingen royal family to develop the Kenya region has not been carried out, so East Africa can only develop the Kenya region alone first.

  The Austro-Hungarian Empire did not fail to help the development of Kenya. A large number of farmers in the Venice area landed at the port of Mtwara with immigrant boats, and then took a boat upstream from the Ruvuma River.

  The citizens of Venice who were trapped in the city by the Austro-Hungarian Empire were imported from East Africa to various cities in the east. Most of them were used to promote the development of East African handicrafts, such as glass manufacturing, textile industry, and iron manufacturing.

  Most of these Venetian citizens are workers, so they have certain skills and are divided up by various cities in East Africa. Although their Italian cultural attributes are relatively deep, especially Nairobi is the most prominent, but when cities develop to a certain stage, they will inevitably enter a stage of negative population growth. By then, there will only be a single German cultural population left in the rural areas of East Africa, so the cities in their regions are destined to be assimilated by Germany.

  Through the Italian-Austrian War, the number of Italian immigrants in East Africa is expected to be close to that of Slavic immigrants this year. Apart from a small number of Slavic immigrants from the Balkan Peninsula, most of the Slavic immigrants came from Tsarist Russia. Religious.

  Nairobi currently has a German-speaking population of more than 20,000, so there is no big problem in assimilation. After the Far East immigrants and Italian immigrants mix, there will inevitably be problems in language communication. Italian and Far East languages ​​​​cannot communicate directly, and German will automatically become a bridge for this communication.

   All in all, Nairobi, a small and inconspicuous city in East Africa, will become an important industrial city in East Africa after passing blood-sucking Venice.

  Now Ernst only needs to wait until the day Austria breaks through Venice, and then send Venice’s machinery and equipment to East Africa for free, completing a robber-style industrial transfer.

  The staff of the Hexingen Consortium have already greeted the Austrian military. The Hexingen Bank helped the Austrian soldiers seize the "gadgets" in cash, and they were responsible for transporting these "gadgets" to the dock.

  The price is not high. After all, it is impossible for these soldiers to take these mechanical equipment as trophies. East Africa only needs to pay the handling fee.

  As for the business owners and landlords in Venice, a large part has been declared death sentence by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Most of them are those who previously opposed the Austrian rule and colluded with the Kingdom of Sardinia. They either fled abroad or were exiled. Their land and assets will be confiscated by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

  (end of this chapter)